Officials seek source of powder sent to Biden's brother

OCEAN RIDGE — Federal and local officials were expected to continue the hunt Monday for the source of a manila envelope containing a mysterious white powder that was mailed to Francis W. "Frank" Biden, the younger brother of Vice President Joe Biden.

Biden, 57, was sprayed with the powder Saturday when he opened the letter-sized envelope, which may have originated in India, just inside the doorway of his home.

"When I opened it, it went 'Poof,' " Biden said Sunday, less than 24 hours after his hands and arms "up to the elbows" were doused with the powder. Officials said it did not appear to be toxic, and he was released from a hospital after an overnight stay.

The incident just before 1 p.m. Saturday triggered a massive response from hazardous materials crews, firefighters, police and Secret Service agents.

"It was one of those moments where you go, 'Uh-oh,' " said Biden. "I immediately knew something was amiss."

Biden said he glimpsed an India postmark but did not see whether there was a return address.

The commotion caused by the powder — and the family connection of the addressee — shut down traffic on Ridge Boulevard in the seaside community for more than eight hours.

"We were told to get out, and not allowed back into our house until 9 p.m.," said Jim Leming, who lives across from Biden's home.

Biden and the woman he lives with were taken to Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boynton Beach, where he was held overnight for observation.

His companion, whom he would identify only as "Mindy," did not come in direct contact with the powder and did not spend the night at Bethesda.

Sitting in the backyard on Sunday, Biden said the envelope was delivered to his mailbox, which sits streetside about 20 feet from the front door of his house, just blocks from the ocean.

Mindy retrieved the mail, he said, and handed it to him near the doorway. As he opened the envelope, "powder came through the seams," he said.

Biden said he dropped the envelope to the floor, and ran to the shower as Mindy called 911. As a precaution, she also showered, he said.

Her two young children, ages 4 and 7, were not at home. Biden has two grown daughters who live out of state.

During the ambulance ride, Biden said he talked by phone to his older brother, the vice president.

"I wanted to know if this was something that was happening to him contemporaneously," he said.

Biden said he was "feeling a little itchy" after his contact with the powder. At the hospital, though, his blood and respiratory functions were checked and doctors assured him he was not in danger.

"Preliminary tests indicate that the contents of the package were deemed not to be threatening in nature," the FBI announced late Saturday.

"I feel fine," said Biden. "I'm in great shape."

Biden praised the first-responders as "incredibly professional and proficient."

Biden heads a nonprofit, Mavericks High Schools, which operates eight tuition-free charter schools in Florida. Among them are high schools in Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach in Broward County, Palm Springs in Palm Beach County, and two in Miami-Dade County.

All serve troubled teens who have not done well in mainstream schools.

He is registered with the state as a lobbyist, he said, because of his work on behalf of his company.

Biden has lived in Florida for several years. He worked for a Boca Raton printing company in the late 1990s, and more recently was development director for Hand in Hand Ministries, a Kentucky-based social service organization. The group runs programs for the poor in Central America, the Caribbean and in Appalachia, according to its website.

Biden said he returned to South Florida about three years ago after working with Hand in Hand Ministries in Nicaragua.

He said he could only speculate about the white powder incident.

"This is an anomaly, but this is part of the territory," he said. "My brother is next in line to be leader of the free world, and anyone in that circle is subject to the vagaries of some nut out there."

Although he said he could only guess about whether there was a political motive behind the scare, he mentioned the nation's overheated political climate.

"Things are so exacerbated," he said. "So does this stimulate some nut job to do something they wouldn't normally do? They could be tripped off by the vitriol that's out there."

Although the powder and Biden's name combined to focus attention on Ocean Ridge, a quiet enclave with only about 1,700 year-around residents, news does happen here.

Last month mega-star Jennifer Lopez was in town to film a movie called "Parker."

Biden said he expects his life to return to normal and was planning to attend a Sunday afternoon service at St. Ann Church in West Palm Beach.

"This sounds really corny, but you want to pray for the people who may be that upset," he said. "It's all about forgiveness."